So, we faced a catastrophic loss of data from our old host. We lost EVERYTHING including usable backups. We still have a lot of our code, but the data is all gone. Blame Ubie for not being more vigilant about keeping that backed up.
The down side...
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IPG is a game development company, sure. But we are also gamers ourselves. That means we like to play games. Sometimes we like to play with ourselves. (Wait, that didn't come out right...) Sometimes we like to play with others. One of the goals...
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Yes, like a crazy mad scientist, I continue to make progress on UWE. The first step was deciding on what direction to take our data handling. Since we lost the database with the last host, I was given a chance to rethink things. One of my personal pet...
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Like my mods and tools?

Then you might consider helping me out. There are some things that need to taken care of every month (like a roof over the head, electricity and internet) plus we can always use more tools and equipment. Your use of our mods and tools makes me happy, but if you want to show additional appreciation, you might consider buying me a slice of pizza or two.

Remember, the definition of a programmer is:

pro·gram·mer (n) An organism capable of converting caffeine and pizza into code.

So, yeah…Tynan dumped a ton of new code into the game, so it’s almost like having to relearn sections from scratch. I have been able to get most of the mods updated…except for TwitchBot. There is some underlying code flaws that I’m going to have to fix (have some users who can’t use it at all), so it might be a little while before I’m done with it. But, on the bright side, the mods I got the most requests for updating to A16 have all been done.

To say that life is not going well for me is an understatement. I have only 1 client at the moment, and I haven’t been able to land a “real” job even though I’ve got dozens and dozens of resumes and inquires out. We are currently living with family, and we are very grateful for them, but our situation is that of moving your and your wives’ entire lives into a small alcove with a futon for the two of you to sleep on. I’m 6’4″. The futon is about 5′ long. It’s impossible for us to sleep together on it, so we’re taking turns sleeping on it. We’re making just barely enough money to feed ourselves, and that’s it. There have been several weeks where I’ve had to go to eating once every other day just to make sure she has enough to eat.

I haven’t had much chance to work on any of my personal programming projects. Have had a combination of other projects taking priority and sickness holding me back a bit. I am still alive, though. And there will be updates when I get a chance.

So, I finally got around to looking into why my wife’s laptop wasn’t working. She’s using my main computer at the moment. This laptop is running hot for sure, so there might be a fan that’s having an issue, but the main problems were locking up constantly. I was pretty sure it was a hard drive issue. Have a new hard drive in, and it seems to be running ok. Moved from a slow 5400RPM drive to a SSD, so it’s way faster in that regard. I think if I can get the heat issue taken care of, I’ll probably keep this machine for myself as the main computer is better for her work anyway.

I’m using a program called Synergy to allow me to control my normal Dev laptop using this laptop’s keyboard an mouse...

So, I worked on trying to implement a feature into a RimWorld mod that I need. I looked at how other people have done it, and the general way of doing it is to break the game and then put your code in it’s place. I don’t like doing that. I like writing my code so that it plays nice with everyone else’s mods.

I spent several hours trying to figure out a way to implement what I need into the Pawn class without trying to rewrite the Pawn class completely…since as that would break the game for every other mod that does anything with Pawns. You know…people, animals, mechs…

No love. Not that Tynan would ever read this blog, but if you do happen to stumble on it:

Please Tynan: Allow an easier way for us to add command_actions into ...

So, I got everything squared away with the new Android Game and got it set aside. I tied up the loose ends on the mod updates I have been working on (3 of them, but none of them are ready to test yet) and I have the current paying client at a point where I’m waiting for feedback from them on if they need more changes or if it’s time to get paid.

I did this because a potential client I had correspondence with indicated they finally had the money and were ready to move forward with a custom WordPress plugin project. So, naturally I like to give better service than I even offer, so I clear aside all my non-paying projects and prep up the workspace and test server to develop for WordPress.

It seems this year you just can’t get away from all the crap being spewed out of the mouths of politicians and pundits. The more they open their mouths, the more it piles up. This game expresses that concept perfectly. It’s gamified political satire. And way more entertaining than following the news or listening to the debates.

Get to the Polls Without Becoming Sheeple

There’s so much poop being flung about by the media, the politicians themselves, and just about anyone discussing the issues that it’s tough not to fall into the category of a “sheeple” for one side or the other. If you listen to too much right-wing poop, you’ll become a Republican sheeple. Listen to too much left-wing poop, and you’ll become a Democratic sheeple. The noise you make is the same regardless...

I was able to do some planning for the next mod I’m working on over the weekend. A more ambitious quality of life mod this time: Create specific “jobs” based off work priorities, and give a screen where you can quickly set pawns to those jobs. It’s going to function like the restrict screen where you can drag a mouse across a coloumn of buttons and quickly assign multiple pawns jobs. So, if you need a cleaning or a hauling day, you can make a job that sets pawns to priority 1 in cleaning or hauling and 4 or nothing to all the others and then drag your mouse down it. Boom. Everyone is a hauler (that can hall).

As much as I’d love to tell you that all the mods I write are great successes and that I find ways to make what I want happen come to life every single time, the truth is sometimes I spend 4-5 hours chasing my tail only to come up with nothing.

I do two things to draw inspiration for my mods: I watch Twitch streamers to see what frustrates them and their viewers the most, and I read the suggestion forums. While reading said forum yesterday I came across what seems like a good, simple and useful suggestion: the Mouse Rollover readout panel that shows soil info and other map cell information is hidden when you have an info panel or a tab open...

Due to the fact that most Twitch streamers who use the TwitchBot tend to use a lot of mods as well, the original idea for the mod command tends to vomit a wall of text into chat. To combat this, it was suggested that we find a way to put the mod lists on a 3rd party site. I like the idea, but I don’t like involving more 3rd party sites than needed, so the best solution was to use THIS site.

To use the new external mod list simply click the checkbox next to the mod command in your TwitchBot settings. The, instead of the text vomit style in chat, the mod command gives a link to your external list. The list is updated every 5 mins.